Canadian Eugenie Bouchard had to battle in the opening set, but she hit her winning stride in the second to defeat Caroline Garcia of France 7-5, 6-0 on Friday for a place in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
Bouchard's win was upstaged by the upset loss of Roger Federer, who was beaten by Italian Andreas Seppi 6-4, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 7-6 (5) on Friday.
Federer, the No. 2 seed, was trying to come from two sets down for the 10th time in his career, most recently at last year's U.S. Open against Gael Monfils.
The 17-time Grand Slam champion hasn't been beaten this early at the Australian Open since 2000, the second year he played here. It was also the unseeded Seppi's first win against Federer in 11 matches.
Federer was up 4-1 in the second-set tiebreaker before he allowed the Italian to win six of the next seven points and the set. He led the fourth-set tiebreaker 3-1 before a double-fault helped allow the Italian to again overcome the deficit.
Bouchard able to 'turn it around'
The 20-year-old Bouchard's win over the 36th-ranked Garcia made amends for a loss to the French player last year in Acapulco.
"I wasn't playing great tennis in the first. I feel like she was putting some pressure on me and I really didn't feel like I got a rhythm," said Bouchard. "But I'm happy that I just kept going. Even if it wasn't going so well, I was able to turn it around.
"So, I loosened up a bit and started going for my shots and playing my game, which is what I need to do more. Probably taking a bit of time away from her stepping in."
The seventh seed from Westmount, Que., will next play the unseeded Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania (42nd), who beat Germany's Carina Witthoeft (104th) 6-4, 6-4 later Friday.
Bouchard made her breakthrough in Melbourne a year ago, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal and duplicating that showing four months later in Paris before playing the Wimbledon final.
Though she will not be facing a seed in the next round, Bouchard remains on guard against any potential upset threat in her weekend fourth-round test.
"Every player here is really good. It's the fourth round of a Grand Slam. Anyone you play will be super-tough," she said.
"I'll be ready for a battle, I'll try to play my game and have some fun also."
Genie Army on guard
Bouchard earned her win over Garcia with a performance witnessed by her several-dozen strong singing, chanting Genie Army fans, all wearing matching maple leaf t-shirts.
She finished the match in 78 minutes.
The opening set turned into a struggle for both women, with six breaks of serve.
Bouchard struck a key blow in the marathon sixth game which lasted nearly a quarter of an hour and did not end until Bouchard converted on a seventh break point as Garcia netted a backhand for 3-all.
But moments later, Bouchard was on the back foot after losing serve, only to get it back in the next game and square the set at 4-4.
Bouchard broke in the 12th game to claim the 56-minute set, as Garcia sent a forehand wide.
Bouchard had been asked after her previous match by the on-court interviewer to do a twirl to show off her outfit, which raised the ire of fans around the world.
No such incident occurred on Friday, and a couple of hours after beating Garcia, Bouchard made light of the flap in a tweet.
The momentum completely shifted in the second set as Bouchard suddenly became untouchable, winning the contest on her second match point.
"I just tried to stay calm," Bouchard said. "I knew that I would hopefully find my groove at some point. Kept going, going, tried to stay with her on her service games.
"I was telling myself to be ready for anything and try to get a rhythm even though it was hard. Finally it clicked a little bit and I was able to roll."
Canadians fall in men's doubles
In doubles, Canadians suffered back-to-back losses, with veteran Daniel Nestor and Indian Rohan Bopanna taken out by Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Nestor's former partner Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-5, 6-3.
The last time Nestor lost this early in Australia was 2009. The end came as Bopann put a forehand service return into the net on the first of two Mirnyi match points after 73 minutes.
Vancouver's Vasek Pospisil was evidently feeling the effects of his draining singles win on Thursday as he and Austrian Julien Knowle had to quit after just three games and nine minutes while leading Benjamin Becker of Germany and Artem Sitak of New Zealand 2-1.
Pospisil is due on court in the singles third round on Saturday against Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
He was treated on court for various back and hip complaints during his singles win over Italy's Paolo Lorenzi.
Nadal, Sharapova move on
Fourteen-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal advanced to the fourth round, beating Dudi Sela in straight sets. He expended much less time and energy than he had in his 5-set, third-round match that lasted over four hours.
Three-time Australian Open finalist Andy Murray beat Joao Sousa 6-1, 6-1, 7-5 to set up a fourth-round clash with No. 10 Grigor Dimitrov, who had a tough third-rounder against 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis before winning 4-6, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Women's No. 2 seed Maria Sharapova cruised to a 6-1, 6-1 win over Zarina Diyas. The match lasted a mere 61 minutes.
Third-seeded Simona Halep advanced with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Bethanie Mattek-Sands, missing twice when she served for the match in the eighth and 10th games before finally serving out.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Eugenie Bouchard wins, Roger Federer shocked at Aussie Open
Dengan url
http://sportiflover.blogspot.com/2015/01/eugenie-bouchard-wins-roger-federer.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Eugenie Bouchard wins, Roger Federer shocked at Aussie Open
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Eugenie Bouchard wins, Roger Federer shocked at Aussie Open
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar